1. Technical Field
The present invention is generally directed to an improved data processing system. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a system and method for visually rendering resource policy usage information for information technology infrastructures.
2. Description of Related Art
Many tools exist for monitoring the performance of information technology infrastructures, such as electronic business systems or the like. For example, International Business Machines, Inc. (IBM) provides a number of various systems for monitoring and managing information technology infrastructures including IBM Tivoli Business Systems Manager, IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console, IBM Tivoli Monitoring, and the like.
While these performance monitoring and management systems provide important information for managing information technology (IT) infrastructures, sometimes it may be difficult for a system administrator to determine the affect of the performance of one information technology infrastructure resource relative to other information technology infrastructure resources. This is because the output from current IT infrastructure management and performance monitoring systems is not provided in as intuitive and easily understandable a manner as is necessary for the average person. In addition, while the output from these systems may be used to understand the operation and usage of a particular system resource, the output does not provide a completely clear and intuitive representation of the operation and usage of that particular system resource relative to other system resources and the system as a whole.
Moreover, the performance monitoring and management systems focus on obtaining information about the operation of a system resource and do not focus on the affect of and implementation of business policies by these system resources. Thus, while it is possible to determine the number of processor cycles a system resource uses, an amount of usage of a bandwidth of a communication connection, which system resources are on-line and which are off-line, etc., the current performance monitoring and management systems do not provide a graphical representation of the affect of business policies on the operation of the system resources.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a system and method that provides an easily discernable visual representation of the relative importance of an affect of policies of resources on the behavior of the resources and the infrastructure as a whole.